[Diagnosis and treatment in general practice. 6. Attitudes of general practitioners--a study in Copenhagen County]

We assume that general practitioners' (GPs) attitudes have considerable significance for their daily work, partly because the "free enterprise" structure permits GPs a fair degree of work autonomy, partly because several studies point to notable variations in GP behaviour which have not been explained by other variables. General practitioners seem to have developed an official professional ideology which differs in some respects from the ideology of other doctors. The core issues of Danish GP ideology, according to commission reports, textbooks and research can be summarized into four main principles: 1. A holistic (bio-psycho-social) model of disease, 2. The GP as a family doctor, 3. The GP as a "gate-keeper" (the central referral role) and 4. General practice as a "free enterprise". We mailed attitude questionnaires to a random sample of 100 practices in the county of Copenhagen. The purpose of the study was to establish the extent to which GPs would agree to the above ideology, and also to look for systematic differences between groups of doctors. The response rate was 76%. We found overall agreement to the family doctor principle among GPs which is in accordance with earlier studies. Attitudes to the "free enterprise" principle of practice organization were favorable in a similarly homogeneous way, and a significant minority favored even further liberalization. Disagreements were more pronounced concerning the holistic (bio-psychosocial) model of disease. Just over half of respondents adhered fully to the model, but doctors from high-income areas were significantly less enthusiastic than other doctors about the model. Similarly, most general practitioners favored the "gate-keeper" role.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)